CHICAGO (WGN) – A woman spoke out Wednesday after video was finally released showing Chicago officers storming into her home two years ago and handcuffing her as she stood naked in her living room, telling the officers dozens of times that they had the wrong address.
Anjanette Young said she is a private person, but that her privacy was violated Chicago police officers.
She said they’re guilty of reckless incompetence after footage was released of that night.
Nearly two years ago on Feb. 21, 2019, the social worker was in her own home when police busted down her door with a search warrant.
Footage shows her frightened and naked as she was handcuffed at gunpoint.
“You’ve got the wrong house, I live alone,” she said that night.
Trembling, weeping and pleading for an explanation, she was told to “relax.”
“Relax? You’re telling me to relax? You’ve got the wrong house,” Young said.
She told them 43 times they were in the wrong home. Police had been looking for a suspect they believed had a gun, ammunition and a small number of drugs.
He was actually next door and on an electronic monitoring system.
“To have my home invaded the way it was for over 40 minutes,” Young said. “To have police officers yelling at me, pointing guns at me, telling me to calm down, making me stand in front of them naked, putting handcuffs on me while I was naked – no one should have to experience that.”
Young’s lawyer called it a galling example of police incompetence and unprofessionalism.
“You don’t have to be a police officer or detective to know the person you’re looking for is next door with an electronic monitoring anklet on his ankle – you don’t have to be a crack police officer to figure that out,” attorney Keenan Saulter said.
Young and her attorney said the city went to court to keep the video from public view.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Lori Lightfoot addressed the fiasco. She apologized directly to Young.
“I was completely and totally appalled as a human being, as a Black woman and a parent, but absent that reality I could have easily been Ms. Young,” Lightfoot said.
She said she was blindsided by the video and uninformed by her own corporation counsel and police department.
“If you can hear, my voice is hoarse,” Lightfoot said. “I have been unsparing to all in this colossal mess.”
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability claims it is still investigating the situation nearly two years later.
“It’s been 20 months since this incident occurred. What’s left to investigate?” said Saulter. “She told the story on the video 43 times: you’ve got the wrong house. They admitted on the video they had the wrong house. There’s no need for a further investigation.”
The mayor is demanding that COPA swiftly finish its investigation.
In the meantime, Young’s attorney has pulled a federal lawsuit against the city and police department. He said it will be refiled Monday morning in state court, which he said is a better venue to deal with allegations of battery, trespassing and violations of privacy.